At dusk, the bleak sunset hung alone on the treetops, and a pair of frightened eyes looked at the bloody battlefield in Zhuocheng in surprise. The huge black Chinese character on the castle tower danced wildly in the gusts of fishy wind, making a loud noise.

The soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army were slowly withdrawing from the battlefield, and the monotonous and dull sound of drums and gongs sounded in the military formation from time to time, looking tired and desolate.

A large number of destroyed siege equipment were thrown under the city, blood-stained stones and huge logs could be seen everywhere, and the corpses of the Yellow Turban soldiers were densely covered in the death zone within fifty paces below the city walls, and there were corpses farther away, but they were much more sparse. The battlefield is littered with discarded and broken weapons, battle flags.

Hundreds of people dressed in short shirts were scattered in all corners of the battlefield, busily carrying corpses or picking up weapons, cleaning the battlefield.

Xian Yufu sat breathlessly on the city wall, struggling to close his eyes.

Since the morning, the Yellow Turban Army has launched a fierce attack on Zhuocheng, without any pause in between, continuous and frantic attack, until the moment when the golden gong sounded just now, the Yellow Turban Army's attack gradually stopped.

Xian Yufu has been sticking to the city tower, commanding the soldiers to resist stubbornly, all the weapons that can be used to defend the city, and all the methods to defend the city, but I hate that there are no four hands. But there are so many enemies that they are like ants, so many and dense that they can't kill them all. Last year, many local officials of the Yellow Turban Riot wrote to the imperial court that they used ant thieves to refer to the Yellow Turban Army, which is the scene. When guarding Fanyang, the Yellow Turban Army of 100,000 people attacked the city, and after a few days of effort, Xian Yufu was killed and fled in embarrassment. But today's battle was particularly fierce, and he almost collapsed on several occasions.

At that time, the city tower was full of soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army, let him shout hoarsely, cut off the long sword, and finally even the halberd pierced the corpse of the enemy soldier and could not be dragged down, but still did not kill the enemy. Fortunately, every time he was desperate, Captain Wu Chi was able to lead reinforcements to kill him in time.

For a whole day, not a single soldier of the Yellow Turban Army walked back, they did not retreat at all, they just attacked, attacked desperately, until they died in battle. Whether they died on the city wall or under the city wall, whether they died under the arrows of the officers and soldiers or died under the swords and guns of the officials, they had no fear at all, as if their lives were not their own. The ladders devoured the lives of countless soldiers, but countless soldiers still went forward one after another, bravely climbed the ladders, and used their blood and lives to lay the cornerstone of the attack for their comrades. The Yellow Turban Army's purely attritional attack not only killed and injured a large number of officers and soldiers defending the city, but also dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the officers and soldiers defending the city. In the face of such a fierce enemy, there is no one who does not feel terrified.

Xian Yufu only ate four small round cakes in one day, and did not eat a drop of water. It's not that I don't want to eat, it's that I don't have time to eat. He led his soldiers to stubbornly repel enemy attacks again and again. In the end, he, like the soldiers, not only could not lift a stone, but also walked staggeringly. It was at this time that the enemy suspended the first day's attack and withdrew.

Xian Yufu was tired and anxious, he was covered in blood, his armor was tattered, and there was no intact place. The muscles were already sore and painful due to excessive exertion, and the legs could not support their bodies at all. His voice was hoarse and he could barely speak, and the loud roar in his ears grew louder and louder, and he could barely hear anything.

He couldn't sit still, even leaning against the walls. He was afraid that he would never be able to get up again after lying down, so he tried his best to open his eyes.

The roar in his ears suddenly disappeared, and in front of him was a chaotic battlefield, full of corpses of soldiers from both sides of the city, who were lying together in various positions, piled up on top of the entire city wall. The arrows and weapons on the ground were soaked in the brown blood that had gradually solidified. Battle flags of all colors were casually discarded on the soldiers' bodies, everywhere. Some of the exhausted warriors had already lay down; Some couldn't find a place and simply lay down on the corpse and fell asleep; Some soldiers gathered together to drink water and eat; More people are looking for wounded comrades, looking for dead brothers. The people who helped defend the city had already begun to clean up the battlefield, clean the top of the city walls, and prepare for another battle tomorrow.

Several military commanders and military commanders successively walked to Xian Yufu's side to report the losses and needed to replenish the weapons and equipment.

After a day of bloody fighting, more than 1,500 officers and soldiers defending the city were killed or wounded, huge losses, and the consumption of various weapons such as long arrows was also quite serious.

At this time, Xian Yufu saw the scout Tuntun Chang, who was in charge of delivering the news, running over, and hurriedly asked:

"Is there any news from the North City Gate?"

"My lord, the Yellow Turban Army that attacked the North City Gate has retreated. Lord Sima Wang and Lord Cao Peng Shi Yan are cleaning up the battlefield. ”

"What about the losses?" Xian Yufu asked anxiously. His main concern now is how many people he has lost. As there were fewer soldiers, the less hope of holding the city fewer. The Yellow Turban Army attacked fiercely, and its combat effectiveness far exceeded Xian Yufu's imagination. When attacking Fan Yang, the soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army were not so powerful, could it be that they deliberately concealed their strength? Xian Yufu was a little puzzled.

"More than four hundred."

Xian Yufu's heart suddenly trembled. Nearly 2,000 people were lost in one day, and if we continue to fight like this every day, let alone persist until it snows this winter, I am afraid that it will not be able to sustain it this month.

"The Yellow Turban Army's attack on the North City Gate is just a feint, the purpose is just to disperse our forces, why do they lose many people?" Xian Yufu looked at the scout chief, as if asking him, and as if talking to himself.

"Lord Yan said that the person in charge of the siege was Huang Long of the Yellow Turban Army, and he was a good friend of the Yellow Turban Commander Zuo Colonel, who died two days ago. The Yellow Dragon Overseer attacked fiercely, and it is estimated that it has the meaning of revenge. ”

Xian Yufu nodded, and then asked, "Lord Yan is okay." ”

"Lord Yan is brave and fierce, invincible, and unscathed."

Xian Yufu laughed. He touched his three locks of long beard, and his mood suddenly improved.

Zhang Niujiao looked at Huang Long, who was sitting silently on one side, and was very angry in his heart.

Today, the direction of the North City Gate was only a feint, but Huang Long, in order to take revenge, did not listen to the order, and the overseer army stormed, causing heavy casualties to the troops. Together, the two battlefields had nearly 15,000 casualties, which greatly exceeded Zhang Niujiao's expectations.

Huang Turban and Zuo Xiao are both orphans, and the two have been carrying medicine baskets on their backs since they were children, and they have traveled the world behind Zhang Jiao to save lives and help the wounded. The two followed Zhang Jiao's disciples to learn martial arts together, and loyally followed Zhang Jiao to rebel. Zuo Xiao has an introverted personality, and Huang Long is in an impatient mood. Colonel Zuo was willing to follow Zhang Niujiao to continue to fight the world, but Huang Long was unwilling, he had been leading his troops to burn and loot near Taihang Mountain, and lived a bandit life of occupying the mountain as the king. It was Colonel Zuo who dragged him out. Huang Long has always been restless, he can't change it anywhere, he wants to grab it, Le Yile's fault, and often violates military orders, and he is also very disgusted by Zhang Niujiao's cold face, let alone sell his account. Zhang Niujiao tried to punish him several times, but was strongly dissuaded by his subordinates. Because he is Colonel Zuo's brother, Colonel Zuo is loyal to Zhang Niujiao and can't wipe Colonel Zuo's face. Huanglong fought bravely, obeyed Zuo's words, used it well, and was still a good general.

But now that Colonel Zuo is gone, who can deter Huanglong?

Zhang Niujiao began to summarize the gains and losses of today's siege, and finally criticized Huang Long, blaming him for not following orders and causing unnecessary losses.

Colonel Zuo's death was a great stimulus to Huanglong. He has always asked to lead his troops to hunt down the leopard Li Hong alone. Of course, Zhang Niujiao did not agree to this irrational request. Huang Long hated Zhang Niujiao very much in his heart. Today's siege of the city, Huang Long avenged his friend, ignored the military order, supervised the army to storm and suffered heavy losses. At the moment, he was in an extremely bad mood.

Seeing Zhang Niujiao's cold face, Huang Long's emotions finally got out of control and he scolded.

In addition to him and Zhang Baiqi, the two little marshals in the big tent, there are also Sima under the tent of each marshal, engaged in the military Sima of each department. When he opened his mouth to scold like this, everyone in the tent was immediately shocked, and the big tent was suddenly silent, except for the roar of the yellow dragon.

Zhang Niujiao's face was expressionless, and after sitting upright for a few years, he looked at Huanglong with bright eyes, not seeing any trace of anger.

After Huang Long scolded a few words, his heart calmed down a little. He looked at Zhang Niujiao, spat at the ground fiercely, and said loudly:

"From now on, you yours, I'm ****. You go to fight the world, I'll go find the leopard, we have nothing to do with each other. ”

After saying that, he turned around and left. After taking two steps, he felt that something was wrong. None of his men stood up.

Huang Long turned around suddenly, pointed at several of his subordinates, and shouted:

"What do you want to do? Looking for death? ”

Everyone looked at Zhang Niujiao with fear in their eyes, with a hint of asking for help.

Huang Long fainted and openly shouted in the big tent with horns. shouted and shouted, and he openly wanted to split the Yellow Turban Army and pull his troops to do it alone. It's going to kill the head. But Huang Long has always been arrogant, thinking that he is great, and Zhang Niujiao will never dare to do anything to himself.

Zhang Niujiao said a word.

"Killed."

Li Hong was awakened by the cold in the woods. He wrapped the cowhide mattress around his body vigorously, looking at the dark sky, and he didn't feel sleepy.

Yesterday afternoon, Zheng Xin received the news from Zhuocheng, and Zhang Niujiao began to attack Zhuocheng.

This news made everyone a little worried, after all, Zhang Niujiao's Yellow Turban Army has not had any record of defeat so far, and the ratio of forces between the offensive and defensive sides is very large, and it is indeed a bit self-deceptive to expect more than 10,000 people to defend for more than a month. Now if you want to solve the siege of Youzhou, it all depends on whether the movements on the Jizhou battlefield are fast or not, and whether you are fighting ruthlessly. If the Jizhou side could not understand the purpose of the Yellow Turban Army's attack on Youzhou, delayed, perfunctory or did not send troops, the battle would have been lost.

No matter what happens to Zhuocheng or Zhuojun, the Fengyun Iron Cavalry must work hard to annihilate the enemy as much as possible and gain more advantages for the defenders of Zhuocheng.

Li Hong ordered the Qu soldiers not to stretch out, so as not to affect their morale, and everyone still carried out their actions according to the established plan. Li Hong instructed his subordinates to pay close attention to the concealment of their troops while speeding up the march, so as not to be discovered by the enemy's scouts.

Li Hong turned over and sat up.

The attendants gathered around in groups of three or five and slept soundly. Yan Liang leaned against a big tree, and half of the black cloth on his body fell. Li Hong quietly walked over, helped him re-cover the big coat, covered him with his own cowhide mattress, and then slowly walked out of the woods.

The soldiers on the night patrol hurried forward to salute. Li Hong stopped them one by one and sat on the grass with them chatting.

Soon, a hint of fish belly white slowly appeared on the horizon in the east. Then, the sky grew brighter and brighter, and dawn crept in.

The sound of horses' hooves suddenly broke the silence of the early morning, and they rushed towards the mountains and forests.

A scout appeared in Li Hong's field of vision with dew all over his body.

The scout was startled when he suddenly saw the captain standing beside the sentry, and hurriedly dismounted, and said breathlessly as he saluted:

"My lord, the Yellow Turban Army is out of the city."

"When?" Li Hong asked with great joy.

The scout's face turned red, and he said a little weakly, "They quietly left the city in the middle of the night. ”

Li Hong was stunned for a moment, looked at the scout's nervous expression, and then laughed.

"Haven't you been monitoring the enemy's movements near the city, why haven't you noticed it?"

"The Yellow Turban Army went out of the city through the west gate, but not through the south gate. We stayed near the south gate, so we didn't find out until the second half of the night. ”

Li Hong nodded and asked suspiciously, "Could it be that the enemy has discovered us?" Why did they march in the middle of the night? At the same speed, they were about to arrive at the Shade Pavilion. ”

The scout immediately said, "My lord, the enemy has crossed the river and gone to the other side." ”

Li Hong was stunned.

"Crossed the river?" Li Hong smiled bitterly at himself, then patted the scout on the shoulder and said, "You have worked hard, go to Zheng Junhou." Try to get some rest, and soon we will be on the march. ”

The scout saluted gratefully, mounted his horse and departed.

"Crossed the river?" Li Hong shook his head again and again and exclaimed, "The person who came up with this idea is really a genius. ”

The Yellow Turban Army crossed the Juma River and traveled along the west bank, and they could also reach the Dingxing Ferry. It's just that we have to cross the giant horse water again. But they avoided the danger of walking to the east bank of the giant horse water, where they might be ambushed by the elusive Leopard Army.

Li Hong felt a little crying and laughing. The leader of the Yellow Turbans was very clever, and he chose a route that was more complicated and a little longer, but extremely safe and safe. His trick was so powerful, not only did Li Hong's plan fail, but also ensured that the troops arrived at the Dingxing ferry on time to meet Sun Qin.

Li Hongxin walked away.

The mountains and forests behind and the hills in the distance are shrouded in a faint morning mist, hazy and looming, like a fairyland. The slightly chilly mountain breeze blows softly, and the strong fragrance of the trees is refreshing. The slightly yellowish grass was covered with dew drops, and it was crystal clear.

Li Hong's heart was as calm as water, and he no longer felt helpless.

Heavy footsteps sounded from behind Li Hong.

Li Hong turned around slowly and saw the sleepy-eyed Yan Liang. Yan Liang was holding Li Hong's cowhide in his hand.

"Your Excellency, you better put it on. It's cool in the morning. ”

Li Hong stretched out his hand to take it, but Yan Liang stepped behind him and gently draped him on.

"Thank you, sir."

Li Hong smiled and patted Yan Liang's big hand.

"You go and inform the troops of all departments, and today we will rush to the Dingxing ferry."